After San Francisco 49ers first-year coach Jim Harbaugh put Nevada quarterback Colin Kaepernick through the paces of a private, pre-draft workout in mid-March, Kaepernick decided to consult with one of Harbaugh’s old pupils. He called Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck.

“I told him his coach was working me out and I might have to steal a few things from him if that’s the direction I went in,” Kaepernick said.

How prescient. With the fourth pick in the second round of the draft, the 49ers did indeed select Kaepernick.

That wasn’t the first time Kaepernick and Luck had talked. They met at the Manning Passing Camp in the summer of 2010, became friends and have stayed in touch via phone calls and text messages. Now, Kaepernick hopes Luck will coach him up in the nuances of the West Coast offense Harbaugh ran at Stanford.

Imagine that: a college player tutoring an NFL player.

Kaepernick plans to move into the Santa Clara, Calif., area, where he will be close to the 49ers facility and just down Highway 101 from Palo Alto, where Stanford is located. Then, he plans to tap into Luck’s knowledge of the Harbaugh offense.

“As a quarterback, when you run an offense you see things a little bit differently than a quarterback who might understand what the playbook says but hasn’t run it on the field,” Kaepernick said. “There’s always little tips you can get from a quarterback that has actually run it.”

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The transition to the West Coast offense will be a big step for Kaepernick, the only player in NCAA history to pass for more than 10,000 yards (10,098) and run for more than 4,000 yards (4,112) in his career. He played in a Wing-T offense at Pitman High School in his hometown of Turlock, Calif., and exclusively in the “Pistol” offense at Nevada, where he lined up four yards back of the center. In the pistol, Kaepernick’s role was to buy time for his receivers to get into seams and let plays develop.

The West Coast is an offense of a different animal.

“Number one, it’s mostly under center,” Kaepernick said. “Almost all of the stuff they do is based on timing, and you have to be precise in what you’re doing.”

Some scouts have nitpicked at Kaepernick’s throwing motion. It’s somewhat extended because of his long arms. But Harbaugh doesn’t seem overly concerned.

“To me, it’s can you process the information,” said Harbaugh, a quarterback for 14 years in the NFL. “How long does it take to get the ball out from the time you see the target open, or coming open, until the ball gets to the receiver? He’s very fast in processing that, and the ball gets there fast. He’s got the kind of arm strength to really power a ball through a defense.”

Kaepernick declined to accept the NFL’s invitation to come to New York for the draft, Instead, he stayed home in Turlock, about 90 minutes east of the Bay Area, hanging out with family and friends. When the 49ers selected him Friday, it was a convenient drive to their headquarters in Santa Clara.

While there, he spent some time with Harbaugh but he did not get a playbook.

The NFL lockout had been reinstated the day before, prohibiting Harbaugh from handing over a playbook to the rookie. But Harbaugh gave Kaepernick the phone numbers of some veteran players, and Kaepernick has been working on borrowing one of their playbooks.

Kaepernick figures the more he can do now, the better he’ll be prepared when the lockout is lifted and teams can start holding meetings and practices.

“I’m just trying to be as proactive as I can and take advantage of the things I do have in front of me that I can utilize,” he said. “Whether it’s veteran players on the team, whether it’s Andrew Luck, or whether it’s making sure I’m doing my workouts and throwing the ball, I want to take advantage of every opportunity I have to get better and prepare myself for the season.”

No matter who the 49ers’ other quarterbacks are — Harbaugh has stated he wants to re-sign Alex Smith, who has had an up-and-down career since being the top pick in the ‘05 draft — Kaepernick plans to compete for the starting job. With a little Luck, he should be ready.